NEW ROAD TRAFFIC ACT EXPLAINED
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By Our Legal Adviser
THE new Road Traffic Act has been an unconscionable time reaching the statute book, and in the course of its long and somewhat chequerea career it has undergone a great many changes. If the criticism originally levelled at it by many sources, including The Commercial Motor, that it does no more than tinker with the formidable problem of the roads and that its provisions are a miscellaneous jumble showing no clear cut policy remains true today, it is undeniable that its provisions are of the greatest importance to all road users.
To examine the whole of the Act. is not a practical proposition in the space available. Also, the very diversity of its provisions renders a simple classification of them for the purpose of such an examination no easy task. . However, it is proposed to deal with the problem by discussing—and where necessary paraphrasing—those provisions of the Act which are -presumably of greater personal interest to commercial-vehicle operators, under the headings of "Passenger Transport" and "Goods Transport," and by following those by a further section, "General TrafficProvisions" which will seek to cover all major matters of general application to road users.
So far as seems practical, these main sections for discussion will be sub-divided into different topics, but it should be clearly understood that it is quite impossible even to mention all the changes involved in an Act of over 50 sections and eight schedules, and that perforce a certain amount of selectivity has had to be exercised.
Although in most cases the Act's provisions are paraphrased, readers must remember that in cases of doubt the text of the Act should be referred to.